The present disclosure relates to a liquid medicine administration apparatus, and more particularly to a portable liquid medicine administration apparatus for sustainably administering liquid medicine, such as an insulin pump, and a liquid medicine administration unit including the liquid medicine administration apparatus.
In recent years, a treatment method of sustainably administering a liquid medicine to the body of a patient by subcutaneous injection, intravenous injection, or the like has been implemented. For example, treatment methods being applied to diabetes patients include a treatment of sustainably implementing infusion of a small amount of insulin into the body of the patient. This treatment method uses a portable liquid medicine administration apparatus (generally referred to as an insulin pump) that can be fixed to and carried with the patient's body or clothes to administer a liquid medicine (insulin) to the patient throughout the day.
One type of portable liquid medicine administration apparatus is a syringe pump type apparatus including a syringe storing a liquid medicine and a pusher driven inside the syringe. Such a liquid medicine administration apparatus includes an occlusion sensor to detect the occurrence of an occlusion of a liquid medicine passage. One example of an occlusion sensor has a configuration in which occlusion is detected using an encoder that controls rotation of a motor to drive a pusher, and a pressure sensor with a diaphragm provided on an outlet side of a liquid medicine (refer to JP 2013-537844 A, FIGS. 39 to 41, FIG. 93, and related descriptions).